COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Starts Shaky

January 12, 2021

Operation Warp Speed, the operation set up by the United States government meant to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to Americans, has officially begun.

This is a map of countries current COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Photograph Courtesy by BlankMap-World.svg: Canuckguy (talk) and many others (see File history)derivative work: MSG17, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Vaccines from biomedical companies, Pfizer and Moderna, are being manufactured and given to health care workers and nursing home residents.

Americans were promised that 20 million people would be vaccinated by the end of 2020. The government only vaccinated 2.8 million, or about 14 percent of the expected goal.

The vaccination throughout the entire country has not gone over well. According to the Wall Street Journal, at some places in Florida, some people have waited for hours to days trying to get the vaccine on a “first come first serve” basis. Some West Virginians got a COVID-19 treatment instead of the vaccine. In Texas, only two people signed up for the vaccine in a medical practice.

Up to this point in time, the United States has given about seven million first vaccination shots, with the first people being able to get their second shot this upcoming week.

This Pfizer-BioNTech A COVID-19 vaccine is about to be prepared for vaccination. Photograph courtesy of U.S. Secretary of Defense, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

According to OurWorldInDate, the only country the U.S. trails in terms of vaccinations daily and vaccinations overall is China.

Yet, this is not what the people expected when they were promised that they would be vaccinated swiftly.

The federal government and the Trump administration left the setup and administration of the vaccine to localized governments.

This allows for different parts of the country to do their own thing. For example, Pennsylvania and Maryland both have phases that they will vaccinate, but both of the states phases are different for who they cover.

The other main issue is what experts call “the last mile.” This “last mile” is the trip from state storage facilities to clinics and places that need and can vaccinate.

An American Red Cross member prepares the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Photograph courtesy of Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (Kegan E. Kay)

The overall staffing and planning of the entire process is unorganized and is not set up in an effective manner.

Overall support and guidance from the federal government and the current administration is needed to help set up the vaccination process so that the country can vaccinate quicker and escape this pandemic.